Friday, March 18

Read It:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I tell you,
unless your righteousness surpasses that
of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.

“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment,
and whoever says to his brother, Raqa,
will be answerable to the Sanhedrin,
and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna.
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.
Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court.
Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,
and the judge will hand you over to the guard,
and you will be thrown into prison.
Amen, I say to you,
you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”

Reflect on it:
Again, in the gospel, Christ is calling us to reconcile our differences with our "brother". He challenges us to reconcile differences before we offer gifts at his altar. I think this is a good reality check. How many times do we walk into mass FUMING at our parents or brother or sister because of something that they did? Before we can offer our gifts, we must quickly reconcile with those to whom we hold grudges.

Pray about it: Holy Spirit, send your fire down upon me so that I might be able to know who I need to reconcile with. Help me to seek to know whom I need to forgive, but also those whom I've hurt. Let me reconcile myself to you always!


Live it! Challenge: Today, figure out who you hold a grudge towards and make steps to forgive them.